Blood & Water

Several people with bad relationships, a serial killer and an election collide in this dark work with weird landlords, lots of angst, and a slowly unfolding story that doesn’t come close to finishing by the book’s end. But the detailed art, though heavy on the hatch and blacks, sets a nice, enveloping mood.

Released by Slave Labor Graphics but never finished through that house, cartoonist Stephen Blue obtained a Xeric Grant in 1993 to self-publish the full story as a graphic novel, retitled Red River. Blue’s other works include contributions to Taboo, The Big Book of Conspiracies, and The Awakening, a series published by Image Comics.